Conventionally, an elastic warp knitted fabric containing elastic yarns has been used in many applications as an innerwear fitted to a body such as shorts, girdle, and brassiere, an undershirt fitted to a body such as sportswear, and a swimsuit, or the like. The inner wear where the warp knitted fabric is used has good wearing feeling and is also capable of enhancing shape retaining properties of body.
Further, as a sportswear or a swimsuit using these elastic warp knitted fabrics, various products have been sold aiming at enhancing body function owing to tightening action. As a tricot warp knitted fabric used in these products, a tricot 2-way warp knitted fabric has been used widely, which is composed of a half texture obtained by knitting a base texture with a knit texture of 1-0/2-3 using inelastic fibers composed of synthetic fiber multi-filaments or spun yarns such as cotton yarns, and combining to this base texture a knit texture of 1-2/1-0 using elastic fibers. This tricot 2-way warp knitted fabric has been dissatisfactory in fit feeling in wearing as a product, because of extremely little extension in a weft direction compared to that in a warp direction, although cloth extends in a weft direction and a warp direction.
In addition, in a knitted fabric having such largely different extensibility to a warp direction and a weft direction, there is also a problem of receiving large restriction in usage of cloth, because of requiring to cut cloth by matching a stress-receiving direction in practical wearing of a garment, and a direction in which cloth easily extends.
To solve this problem, there has been proposed a method for making extension stress in a warp direction and a weft direction relatively the same level, by knitting elastic yarns by two needle stitch to attain predetermined density in a course direction, aiming at fulfilling suitable balance of extensibility and extension recovery characteristics, in both of a warp direction and a weft direction, however, it has not referred at all to a knitting method of the inelastic fibers which determines extension recovery characteristics of the elastic fibers, which thus left a problem of being insufficient in motion followability arising from recovery characteristics when used as a garment (see PATENT DOCUMENT 1 below). In addition, there has been proposed a method for matching extensibility in a warp and weft to relatively same level, by knitting with a weft knit texture formed a loop by elastic yarns, or knitting by inserting elastic yarns to a base texture, however, this method only provides such one as requiring large force for extension, which limits applications, and thus has a problem of being not suitable for applications requiring extension by relatively small force, such as shorts, inner wears, sports undershirts (see PATENT DOCUMENT 2 below).
As an elastic warp knitted fabric having low stress in extension, an extension force ratio in a warp direction/in a weft direction within a certain range, and superior balance of elastic characteristics in weft and warp directions, such an elastic warp knitted fabric has also been disclosed that both of elastic yarns and inelastic yarns are composed of a specific Atlas knit texture (see PATENT DOCUMENT 3 below). This method gives a softly stretchable elastic warp knitted fabric not giving tight feeling in wearing, by decreasing stress in extension, however, it decreases extension recovery characteristics, which raises a problem of generation of losing shape at wearing, in sports goods aiming at enhancement of body function, or a problem of inhibiting motion caused by non integration of cloth and muscle movement due to poor motion followability.
In recent years, it has been required such cloth as not only simply stretching with matching to body movement but also having extension function like supporting body movement. Specifically, it has been required such a garment or a knitted fabric for a garment that is good in tightening feeling (or fit feeling), as well as extremely superior in motion followability and supports muscle or the like of a body and contributes to enhancement of movement function, by being capable of moving in nearly the same way as body movement, and still more has no limitation in applications due to extension force, and is less likely to lose shape due to wearing. However, it has been difficult to obtain a garment superior in soft stretching characteristics providing extension under low stress, and extension recovery characteristics enabling to follow extension recovery motion, by using the aforesaid knitted fabric.